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Floods leave Hampshire with massive repair bill for roads

REPAIRING Hampshire’s flood-damaged roads could cost up to £36 million.

That figure was revealed as the Government said it was making an extra £140m available to repair roads across the country.

It comes weeks after county bosses passed a budget to cut £3.4m from road maintenance.

The wettest winter on record has left Hampshire’s 5,280 miles of road pockmarked with potholes.

Engineers are faced with widespread drainage work and once river levels have subsided they are preparing to deploy divers to assess damage to bridge structures.

The council’s transport portfolio holder Seán Woodward said it was unclear how much of the Government cash the county council would receive, and warned the full extent of the damage would only become clear once water levels receded. “Our estimate is that, to fix the extensive winter damage on Hampshire’s roads would cost between £25m and £36m,” he said. “We are now looking at plans for resurfacing the worst affected roads and pavements, drainage works and edge repairs.”

A Department for Transport spokesman said it was now inviting local authorities to bid for the money.